For the second year in a row Kennith Gonzalez won The Jersey Journal's 54th annual Hudson County Spelling Bee and is on his way to competing in the nationals.

The 7th Grader, from St. Francis Academy in Union City, was the last wordsmith standing out of the 34 students who competed on stage at the Margaret Williams Theatre at New Jersey City University this morning.

The two-hour word battle began at 10 a.m. and included some of the brightest students in the county. After 15 rounds, Gonzalez defended the title against 7th Grader Edward Horan, who attends the Hudson School in Hoboken.

The two competitors when back and forth for the last three rounds until Horan missed a letter on cappelletti, he spelled it capelletti. The mistake gave the 2012 champion a shot for a repeat, and he nailed it. Gonzalez calmly walked up to the microphone at the center of the stage and correctly spelled garcon and philhellenism, winning a trip for the second time to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. this spring.

"Deja vu," said Gonzalez after he walked off stage with two trophies in hand, one for himself and another for his school. He was nervous up until the first round but "after that I took it easy," said Gonzalez, adding that practicing for the bee "made me more confident on stage."

In attendance showing support was his family and school principal, Deborah Savage, who said Kennith has been the number one speller at her school for years.

"Kennith has been winning since first grade so we always knew he was going to be here," Savage said.

In third place came Paul Valleu, a 5th Grader from the Jersey City Hoboken Home Schooling Association. In fourth was Harsil Patel, a 4th Grader from Nicolaus Copernicus P.S. 25 in Jersey City. The top finalists were awarded a care package from event sponsors Capital One Bank.

"That last group of four boys were invincible," said spelling bee director Kay O'Malley, adding "All the kids are champions. It takes a lot of courage to come on stage in such a big theatre."